cardinal fish not making through QT

[Mihai]

One year ago I had two Banggai Cardinalfish die in my display - they were the first two fish I put in the tank (after 6 mo of corals), never ate a thing and died.

This year I decided to try again and got a pair of cardinals (this time in QT as the display is stocked this time), one died in 3 days after not eating anything, replaced it with another one (same LFS, same tank). The second one died after 3-4 more days: it ate a bit, then just stopped (refused even brine shrimp). The second day he was gone.

Finally, the last guy in the tank stopped eating yesterday, about 5 days after I got him. The first 3-4 days he ate GREAT. He was greating me when I came home and I was feeding him shrimp pieces with chopsticks (OK, bamboo skewers used as chopsticks). Yesterday he stopped eating (not a bite), today nothing and not it is breathing heavily, just like the first one one day before dying.

The tank is a 10 gal setup as a nano with a ton of LR, a HOB filter and a SeaClone skimmer (more for O2 than anything else). All corals inside (monitpora capricornis, yellow polyp, xenia, leather, anthelia, mushrooms) are doing great, so I gather that the water should be good (at least in theory, corals are more sensitive to water quality than fish, right?).

So, if this last cardinals dies tomorrow as I expect they will be 5 deaths for 5 cardinals I attempted. Is it something with the cardinals or is it just me? I noticed that at least these last three cardinals had a bit of red at the base of the fins close to their tails (the ones that are big for the triggers).
Are there any vendors online or not that sell tank-raised cardinals?
Are the cardinals online any better than the ones at the LFS? For example the ones from live aquaria, they are still collected from the wild, but do they have a better source than my (average or below average) LFS?

Very frustrated,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

I have had the same bad luck with Bagai Cardinales.

Supposedly, it is the wild caught ones that die from this mysterious disease.

Supposedly, farm raised ones don't get the disease.

Oddly, Bangia's are some of the easiest fish to breed in captivty, yet I never see captive bred specimens for sale.

I wonder if people have the same problem with Pajama's and Threadfins (Bluestreak) ?

Louey

 

[npaden]

I've always had really bad luck with wild caught Banggai cardinals as well. I lost several when I was first starting out, then got a pair to live and raised several hundred babies but then lost my pair and haven't ever been able to get another pair to live.

I have 2 of my babies still around in 2 different tanks. I might try catching them and putting them in a tank together and then crossing my fingers that they would be a pair.

Sorry to hear that others have as bad of luck with the wild banggais as I do.

Nathan

 

[Dr_Tang]

Supposedly, it is the wild caught ones that die from this mysterious disease.

yeah something to do with internal parasites....usually only last about 2 weeks in captivity

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm...I've only had one and he was rock solid. I can't remember now if he was captive bred or wild caught.

 

[Anonymous]

Hold out for Captive bred. They are worth the wait. There's no shortage of them here because a few hobbiests are breeding them but shipping is a real pain. Look for local fish clubs and see if anyone in your area is breeding them.

 

[Mihai]

It makes sense. Unfortunately I didn't hear of anybody nearby breeding them, but I'll check.

M.

 

[fish-daddy]

I found this while looking for something I could do about my Cardinal fish… now in quarantine and on life support – it doesn’t look good. This will be the third I’ve lost. :evil: Urrrrrgh. My first fish was introduced alone, by himself and ate for the first couple days, but then stopped. Reading some articles on the subject, and talking with the pet store, found they do better in 2’s or 3’s. Then I bought (2)… 1 of 2 died within 4 days (still under warranty). After the mate died, the other stopped eating and now will probably also parish. My tank is 75 gal, has perfect water conditions. I say that because I have a reef and fish tank and never had problems with the coral life (or any other fish). Water tests; Ammonia=0, Nitrates=0, Nitrites=0, pH is 8.3, Gravity 1.021. It would appear, these fish are easier to breed than they are keeping alive. I would submit that references (within books, web-sites, etc.) change this fish rating to medium to difficult (until well established).

 

[Mihai]

I stopped buying the wild caught. I'm waiting for a couple of tank raised whenever I'll get them.

M.

 

[Anonymous]

I am 0-6 on cardinal fish.

all die w/in a week of hitting the tank.

4 banggai
2 orbital

I've given up. I love banggai too

 

[helipilot]

I read some where that B. cardinals and PJ cardinals were nocturnal. I feed mine frozen food about one hour after the lights turn off. The tank is not completely dark, just some room lights and TV on. My PJ are doing great. 10 months now.